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April 23, 2010

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A handful of undecided SEIU locals swung to California nurses leader Mary Kay Henry today, turning the giant union away from the Washington-based political and policy engagement that made it a major ally of the Democratic Party under retiring President Andy Stern.

Key locals in New York, Los Angeles, Oregon, and Washington State committed crucial votes to Henry, choosing her over Stern's protege, Anna Burger, who had promises continuity with Stern's leadership.

"It's done," an SEIU insider emailed moments ago.

Henry benefitted from a sentiment in the union's constituents across the country that Stern had become a divisive, and even exhausting, figure. Final negotiations included ensuring peace between Henry's California nurses' union and a long-term care workers local in the state led by Laphonza Butler. Butler and building workers leader Mike Fishman met in New York today with the leaders of other large undeclared locals, including the largest Chicago SEIU chapter.

One person familiar with the deliberations said the swing voters decided that Henry was closer to a consensus choice, as opposition to Burger had already begun to divide the union. If Burger was to win, they decided, she would have had to win cleanly, and it was already too late for that.

Henry remains a largely unknown quantity on the national political scene, and some officials predicted that she would allow power to return from the Washington headquarters to scattered local unions; others suggested she'd emerge as a charismatic, central figure in Stern's tradition.

Henry herself wasn't immediately reachable Friday night, and none of the officials were ready to comment on the record on the local leaders' decisions.

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You know who these "UNION idiots" are? American workers who have decided that they aren't required to accept whatever companies decide is sufficient. So, if you enjoy your wage, your weekend, or appreciate the safe work conditions in this country, try re-evaluating your stance on organized labor, because it's the only reason you enjoy them in the capacity that they exist today.

bankrupting business? sounds like the Republican party. Unionization is good for business, and even better for the health of the overall economy.
You're kidding, right? The health of our economy is suffering because of unions. Nothing against the members, but we can't afford your benefits and pensions...public unions are breaking California.

Ben. Get your facts straight. Calling Henry a "California nurses leader" makes no sense. For a brief period of time she supervised the organizing of a handful of RNs at 2 companies with neutrality agreements, then struck a deal with the California Nurses Association that precluded SEIU's ability to organize RNs in California. That same agreement was extended to a national level last year. With limited exceptions, SEIU will not organize any RNs. If Mary Kay is leading RNs anywhere it's away from SEIU. (as evidenced by the recent decert filed at an HCA hospital in Florida)

I can only imagine that the Chinese people hope that the SEIU will be more successful. The Chinese realize that as the unions price U.S companies out of the market, then more of these companies will move offshore. However there is an upside for the unions: With more of their members unemployed, they will have more time to beat up ( non SOCIALIST PROGRESSIVE voters). Maybe they could even try to organize Chinese companies.

To: Mary Kay Henry,
I have to admire your cujones for running against the hand picked choice of Andy the almighty.
My advise. Have at least 5 body gaurds 24-7. As a last resort have a GPS locator chip implanted.I understand that Andy Stern is not a good loser
That chip will be helpful, just in case you might disappear.

Can anti-Union folk riddle me this? Every single CEO in this country has a contract. Basically all rich folks have contracts. Why is having a contract such a bad thing? Why is it so despicable to know what you're going to make and when? This is like debating the use of money. "Damn those money people, the barter system was so much better!"

Unions are parasites. If the SEIU really wanted to do something positive they would disband and quit stealing from taxpayers as well as their members. Of course, being a union, they have no interest in anything positive.

I think this is incredible for working women and for all members of seiu. I am glad to see that despite predictions from anti seiu loud mouths, a woman is now democratically elected by a majority of seiu executive board and the union remains vibrant and united. I am so proud to be an seiu member.

Posted By: I think this is incredible for working women and for all members of seiu. I am glad to see that desp | April 24, 2010 at 01:08 AM

Hey Tobs! What planet did you learn any on business or economics on? Sounds like you have been brainwashed with liberal rhetoric instead of reason based on fact and reality. Good luck with your union gig, you are going to need it unless you don't mind moving to China.

Posted By: Hey Tobs! What planet did you learn any on business or economics on? Sounds like you have been bra | April 24, 2010 at 05:46 AM

Rumors spread that the new union leader, Mary Kay announced that although her union would continue the practice of beating outnumbered African Americans, or old people who attended Tea Party events, she promised her union would not steal the victims personal effects.

I live in Mich and have been sick of retired autoworkers and their raging sense of entitlement for many years. Finally, I realised that prehaps working at a $50/hr job that a monkey can be trained to do must rot the brain.

Anna Burger and Mary Kay Henry are both dynamic women who have dedicated their lives to the fight for social justice. They have inspired men and women all over America. Yeah to finally smashing the glass ceiling. You both make me proud to be a member of SEIU.

"Anna Burger and Mary Kay Henry are both dynamic women who have dedicated their lives to the fight for social justice."
Who knew social justice was berating an African American protester or intimidating a little old lady.

Ben: It appears that Mary Kay Henry's new PR team did a focus group and concluded that she would be more appealing if people mistakenly thought she was a nurse, or the leader of a "California nurses union." She is not, and in fact has sought to undermine both the California Nurses Association, and the nurses at UHW. She has been a loyal staff member, doing whatever Stern wanted (helping to prop up Tyrone Freeman, providing a job for Rickman Jackson after revelations of his corruption, manipulating the NLRB to deny workers the right to vote, etc.).

all you anti union folks clearly do not understand what unions in this country have done for you. remember when the boss is in charge you have child labor , 24/7 working days and hours, no vacation, no healthcare. We only have it now because of the work done by tireless union members. Banks and greedy rich folks have bankrupted the country. You got it all wrong Sedona.

Thank God for Unions.
There would be no middle-class to speak of without them. Republican haters of Unions are increasingly a blight on our nation. Forward with Unions fighting for fair wages and pensions, good health-care benefits, safe working conditions, and down down down with Oligarchs!

Private sector unions have a place in American labor, but public sector unions are a crazy notion. The union leaders bargain with political leaders, but the only ones with real skin in the game are the voters - who have no representation at the bargaining table.
The SEIU people have no interest in fiscal responsiblity. Their solution is always to tax, tax, tax.

I've belonged to 4 different unions in my life. EVERY required meeting I had to attend creeped me out. I thought I was in Moscow. In every case, the unions put the 4 companies, in 4 different industries, out of business,.

unions are the worst thing ever in this country. UAM for instance, paying people 90% of their wages when they are not working...indefinitely. That is a joke! All unions all the way up to the postal workers prove they cannot operate at a profit. That is why so many companies have not unionized as a result. The demands in union workers is ridiculous and never should have been agreed to. Chrysler LIED to the public saying they had paid back stim monies ahead of time..when they had only paid back a small protion of what they were given. No private business should have ever been given taxpayer money. If they cannot make it on their own...they should close up just like any other business for the ignorance and inability to operate at a profit.

The right wing extremists dont want to increase minimum wage that it willhurt businesses. Then they complain the low wage earners dont pay taxes, and why should they get health care benifit. They want all workers to be at McDonald and Walmart wages so that their owners get richer and richer. Actually they want slavery system to be back. Dont pay workers fair wages and dont let them unionize.

"I live in Mich and have been sick of retired autoworkers and their raging sense of entitlement for many years. Finally, I realised that prehaps working at a $50/hr job that a monkey can be trained to do must rot the brain"
I thought you were talking about CEOs, and Wall Street thugs enjoying their golden parachute and other bonuses. The Auto and banking and other businesses that failed were only failure of management and their irresponsible decisions. Dont blame it on workers, they worked hard and many of them lost their pension and 401K money because of these Wall street thugs that Republicans are bend over backward to protect

We all know why you right wing extremists are against paying decent wages and providing decent benefits, you are the same people who see nothing wrong with big corporate honchos running good companies into the ground, running off millions in salaries and bonuses. You and I both know that hundreds of thousands of the companies that have gone under was from greedy pigs who didn't know what the hell they were doing but paid themselves outrageous sums of money. And why is it that the richest of people here in America have doubled their wealth in the last 10 years while the middle class and working poor struggle just to make ends meet. I know of no better time in America than now for people to start standing up to the corporate fat cats and insist that we be treated fairly and treated as human beings, we are NOT the punching bags of you greedy whores!!!

Posted By: We all know why you right wing extremists are against paying decent wages and providing decent benef | April 24, 2010 at 08:24 PM

For what it's worth, I don't think the folks who write about "thugs" really exist. The posts are so poorly thought out, it's just crazy nonsense. Most likely the Chamber of Commerce or Berman's group just hire bozos to drop that nonsense wherever unions appear on the internet. We're screwed without our union. So the boss hires ******s (I think that's the right term?) to post the word "thug" everywhere they see the word "union" on the internet. At least these little schmucks can't fire us!

To Rahul who brought up the issue of contracts --
I wonder why unions like SEIU won't write contracts with their potential members prior to an election. Those contracts could lay out financial transparency, exactly what to expect from the service rep, exactly how dues will be determined and the big one -- exactly how to end union representation if the union fails to hold up its side of the bargain. oh yeah, and wouldn't it be swell if the union would put in writing all the promises they make to members during an organizing drive?
But you know what Rahul? It will never happen because no union wants to be held accountable for anything to its members.

Posted By: To Rahul who brought up the issue of contracts --
I wonder why unions like SEIU won't write contra | April 24, 2010 at 08:56 PM

Here's a radical thought -- maybe not all those who oppose forced unionism and union corruption are not right wing kooks. MAybe a few of them, like myself, are former union insiders who got an eyeful of how unions really work.

Posted By: Here's a radical thought -- maybe not all those who oppose forced unionism and union corruption are | April 24, 2010 at 08:59 PM

oh brother. And I notice someone has posted the old "unions built the middle class" bullcrap line that they teach you in Organizing 101.
You know what I think? I think the Slinky built the middle class because if you look at the percentage of children who play with Slinkies, you see a direct correlation to the size of the middle class.
I know Slinkies built the middle class because it sure couldn't have been the innovators and risk takers who created the businesses that paid all those middle class wages. And it couldn't be the independent business people and non-union professionals that have always made up more than half of the middle class.
nope. I'm convinced it was the Slinky. and if I say it enough it will be true because my organizing director taught me to parrot everything he says.

Posted By: oh brother. And I notice someone has posted the old "unions built the middle class" bullcrap line t | April 24, 2010 at 09:06 PM

"Ben: It appears that Mary Kay Henry's new PR team did a focus group and concluded that she would be more appealing if people mistakenly thought she was a nurse, or the leader of a "California nurses union." She is not, and in fact has sought to undermine both the California Nurses Association, and the nurses at UHW. She has been a loyal staff member, doing whatever Stern wanted (helping to prop up Tyrone Freeman, providing a job for Rickman Jackson after revelations of his corruption, manipulating the NLRB to deny workers the right to vote, etc.)."
Yup, that's the Mary Kay I know -- the one who once told a roomful of members that she was certain Tyrone Freeman was "a man of character".
Yup. That's my Mary Kay!

Posted By: "Ben: It appears that Mary Kay Henry's new PR team did a focus group and concluded that she would be | April 24, 2010 at 09:10 PM

Maybe because the new head is a nurse and not a violent radical that SEIU union thugs and goons will stop attacking law abiding and non violent Patriot/Tea Party members. I go out on my way to not buy anything made by a union or where unions are involved.
Unions have since the mid 60s supported those who have attacked the Constitution and are now fully employing hard core Marxist tactics to enslave all Americans.
Unions are the enemy of this nations Freedoms and Liberties. And no I am not a Repulsive.
Death to Tyrants!

a long time ago unions played a valid role, but for the past 30 years they have done everything they could to destroy everything they touch. Looking for a job in America - thank a union member for there not being any.

Comrades, I just got back from my union sponsored Black Man beating class. No one teaches how to beat an outnumbered, older, black man than those great instructors at SEIU. Next week our class is in how to permanently disable grandma from attending a tea party, with an aluminum baseball bat. I can hardly wait comrades.

the hook of this article is misleading--Henry is every bit as much a Stern protege as Burger, even if she is not the chosen successor. The last non-Stern protege to have any power in SEIU was Sal Rosselli, and look what they did to him.
And while having a woman lead a major union is a good thing, both Henry and Burger follow the Stern model of getting in bed with the boss and stabbing workers in the back. Meet the new boss...

Poppa, Your words are meaingless, you and I both know that the reason there are not any jobs is because the greedy corporate pigs have sent them overseas. And they sent them overseas just to pad their own salaries and bonuses. And if you knew anything at all, you would know that it has been the unions fighting to keep jobs in this country. You are probably one of the Wal-mart shoppers who could care less if you buy American or not, just as long as you can fill your own selfish needs. If ever there was a time in America for unions, it would be now as the corporate thieves raise their salaries and bonuses higher every year while the middle class struggles just trying to keep up with their bills and expenses. Why don't you far right radicals admit that your goal is to have to classes of Americans, the poor and the rich, the middle class is a dying breed!!

A nurses union?!!! You're in surgery, a heart transplant, and the operating room scrub nurses all leave in the middle of the operation for their union mandated official, it must happen this minute because we're union morons, coffee break.

"Posted By: Far right radicals Poppa, you and I both know that the reason there are not any jobs is because the greedy corporate pigs have sent them overseas. ...And if you knew anything at all, you would know that it has been the unions fighting to keep jobs in this country. "
Tell that to Bethlehem Steel, Mac Truck, The New Jersey Zinc Company, all of which used to employ thousands, be All US companies, and All went out of business because the unions broke them, and couldn't then compete with foreign products......But don't worry, we won't become a class society of rich and poor under Obama, we'll all be poor, that should make you happy.

Unions have created so much that Americans take for granted -- a 40 hour workweek, livable wages -- even the employer-based health care system that the right-wing thinks is being undermined by the new healthcare bill.

To all of you union supporters.... Yes, unions played an important role in our country in the early 1900s. The unions today are out of control. If you don't realize that todays unions make companies unable to compete and in some cases cause them to fail because of outragous salaries and pensions, then you are an uninformed moron.

"If you can't beat 'em, have Congress hobble 'em. That's the motto of some in corporate America, and Exhibit A might be United Parcel Service's campaign to get Washington to impose its labor woes on rival Federal Express. This would be one more union bailout at the expense of business competition and economic efficiency.
House Transportation Chairman James Oberstar (D., Big Labor) last year slipped 230 words into a spending bill that would make it easier for the Teamsters to unionize FedEx. This ambush was included at the urging of UPS, which has been saddled with the Teamsters for decades."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704133804575198232906957778.html

According to the comments posted below, organized labor is responsible for bankrupt business, the economic meltdown, and, one supposes, several more unnamed problems. Original sin? Al Queda? Earthquakes? Tornadoes? Global warming?
C'mon. How about the 40-hour week, holidays, paid vacation, overtime pay, paid health care, retirement benefits, protection against arbitrary discharge and discipline? Have y'all forgotten how we came to be where we are? Risk-taking, greedy bankers who took billions in bonuses after leaving our 401k's and other retirement plans in ruins. Other countries are able to provide for their citizens. We should be doing something about that here instead of spilling crocodile tears about regulating the financial deep pockets responsible for this mess and crying about requiring businesses to pay reasonable wages and benefits.